Device for transferring knitted fabrics



May 7, 1929. L. NfD. WILLIAMS DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING KNITTED FABRICS Filed Dec. 1, 1925 f INVENTOR:

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FIG Ii FIG: '1.

WITNESSES Ii. 6'6

Patented May 7, 1929.

UNITED AT S ATE OFFICE k LOUIS n. n. WILLIAMS, on oeonrz, PENNSY VANIA, ass enonf'ro soor'r awn;

LIAMS, INCORPORATED, on NEW YORK, n. Y.,

Application filed- December This invention relates to devices for trans ferring knitted fabrics loop for loopbetween different types of machines as required in producing certain articles of manufacture, such for example as stockings and the like. More specifically speaking, the present invention is concerned with transfer devices of the special kind shownand described in my Patent No. 1,348,195 dated August 3, 1920, adapted to receive a stocking fromthe producing machine for doubling the loopsofop posite halves of the tube to close the toe pocket, and intended to be inserted in a sewing machinesuch as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,315,06 l of September :2, 1919 for'sub-' sequent uniting of the doubled loops in finishing'the stocking. 7

Transfer devices of the kind referred to were usually constructed with looping points which had to be individually secured,"and on account of the greatnuinber required, assembling of such devices wasnot only extremely difficult and tedious, but very expensive. Moreover, on account of the extreme sharpness of the looping points of the fabric engaging instrumentalities heretofore, employed, and their liability to bending, considerable di'iiiculty has been experiencedin maintaining the points properly spaced, more'particularly with regard to assuring correct registry when brought end to end in the act of loop transfer in the manner above briefly eX- plained; disalignment, though ever so slight, providing intervals for the fabric loops to slip through and resultingin so called drop stitches.

My present invention is directed, in the main, toward overcon'ring the various difficultics recited, i. e. toward improving such transfer devices so a s to obtain, on the one hand, the advantages of greater structural simplicity particularly with reference to the number of parts required, thereby to renderassembhng very much easier and less expensive; and on the other hand, to insure against the possibility of stitch dropping notwithstanding slight disalignment or bending of the looping points. I @ne way in which theforegoing desiderata may be readily attained, will be manifest from the detailed description which followsof the typical embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, whereof Fi I, is a side elevation of the transfer device. i I

DEVICE non mnansrnnnine Kmm nmmms;

1,1925. Serial No. 72,484. V

Fig. IIis a perspective view of one ofthe fabricloop engaginginstrumentalities.'

Fig. III is a detail cross section. taken as in- CllCLllQCl by thearrows IIIIII in Fig. I.

Figs. IV. and V, are fragmentary side elevation s of the portion of the structure illus trated nFlgaIlI showing successive steps in assembling.

Fig. VI is a detail indicated by the arrows VI-VI in FigrV;

. Fig VII is an illustration showing one of sectional view taken as A oonrona'rron on assAoHU- the steps incidentalto the formation of'the fabric engaging instrumentality'depicted in Fig. II; and,

. Fig. VIII isa fragmentary view, showing W1th reference more particularly to Fig. I,

an. alternate embodiment of my, invention.

the transfer device there depicted comprises componentsemi-circular shell sections 10, 11, which, when occupying the full line positions, Jointly constitutea cylindric holder frow one edgeof which project the points ofthe fabric engaging instrun'ientalities, said points being adapted to receive the fabric loops L fromthe needlesN of a knitting machine as shown'in Fig. III. The section 11 is connected to the section 10, by hinges 13, so as to be s-Wingable to the;dotted-line position for registry and end'to end abutment of its points with those ofsaid section 10. hen the parts are so po sitioned,the fabricloops previously received by the section 11 can be,displacedtherefrom and doubled with loops on the points of the section 10, suchlu'ansfcr being facilitated by aid of striJjJper segments 15 with which the two sections arerespectively equipped. These stripper segments 15are supported bypins 16 (see Fig. III) appropriately guided for longitudinal shifting intheparts 10, 11, said.

pins extending from arcuate aetuating plates I 17 that are engageable from within the device,

all as described in the patentto which refer; once has been made hereinbefore. I L 1 As shownin the several illustrations, the cylindric holder-jointly constituted ,by-the parts 10, 11 is provided at one end with a circumferentialprotuberance 18 which is characterized by having a series of equally-spaced peripheral notches 1 9 that are intersected by a continuous cross groove20 for anchorage of the web engaging instruinentalities 21 (Fig II) in the mannerto be. presently explained. In the instance illustrated, these web engaging .instrumentalities are made to ends 24 of substantial lateral surface area.

In practice, the point ends 24- may vary from a sixty-fourth to a sixteenth ofan inch in diameter according to the gage of'the fabric to be transferred. A double pointed fabric engaging instrumentality of this kind may obviously be constructed in a number of different ways, one convenient and preferred method being to employ a blank length of stripn aterial, for example round wire, flatteningthe opposite ends of such blank, fashioning the flattened portions to the desired channeled cross section, and at the same time providing the tapered point tips. Thereupon: the structure of Fig. VII may be con verted into the complete double pointed instrumentality-2lof Fig. I I-simply by double bending in a manner that is clearly obvious from the illustrations.

In assembling the transfer device, the laterallyextending anchorage portions 28 of the web-engaging double-pointed instrumentalities 21 are engaged within the cross groove 20 of the holder element 10, 11, with the imniediately adjoining portions of the point shanks 22 similarly lodged in neighboring pairs of peripheral notches 19, all as shown in Fig. IV. -With the instrumentalities 21 placed asjust described, the contiguous side walls of the slots 19 are swedged over upon the recessed portions as shown at 25 in Figs. V and VI-by hammering or otherwiset 0 firmly secure them. in. the holder 10, 11.

lVhen the section 11 of the transfer device is turned over upon the companion section 10 in accordance with the dotted line showing in Fig. Iit will be observed that, by virtue of the dull fiat ends 24 of the looping points, abutment between opposing pairs of them obtains over a definite surface area, whereby, notwithstanding slight disalignment after the manner indicated in Fig. V, sufficient surface overlap is assured to preclude the possibility of stitch dropping dur ing doubling of the fabric loopsfor the purpose outlined in one of the introductory paragraphs of this specification.

If desired, and instead of with but two points, the fabric engaging instrumentalities 21 may, within the scope of the appended claims, be made with the points in greater multiple, or in other words, to resemble a comb like structure capable of being secured to the holder 10,11 in precisely the same manner as already described.

In the alternative construction of Fig.

VIII, the laterally-extending anchorage portions 23 of the fabric engaging instrumentalities 21 are clamped against a flange 26 of the holder element 10, 11 by a plate 27. This plate 27 is accommodated. in the cross groove 20 (which in the present instance is con siderably larger than in the first embodiment), and its bottom face is indented at the proper intervals, as indicated at 29, to assist in maintaining thedesired spacing of the instrumentalities 21. Screws 30 are employed as a convenient means to draw upon the plate 27 after the parts are otherwise assembled; while the side walls of the notches 19 are preferably swcdged over upon the point shanks 22 in the manner previously eX- plained. The modified construction just described, it will be seen, enables replacement to be made more readily in the event of the breakage of any of the points, simply by removing the plate 27 and drawing the fabricengaging instrumentalities 21 upward from the notches 19 in which their shanks 22 are lodged.

It is to be understood that my invention is not necessarily confined merely to the construction of transfer devices of the annular or ring form useful with circular knitting machines, but that it may be embodied with equal advantages in the straight type of transfer devices such as ordinarily employed in connection with flat knitting machines. It will also be apparent that the advantages resultant from the use of dull ends will be the same whether the points be in multiple as above described, or single as heretofore.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for transferring knitted fabrics including a holder element having a series of notches intersected by a continuous cross groove; in combination with a fabric loop engaging instrulnentality affording a number of spaced points integrally joined transversely by a common connection, the latter being adapted to engage in the cross groove of the holder element, and the immediately adjoining portions of the point shanks to engage in the notches.

2. A device for transferring knitted fabrics including a holder element having a series of notches intersected by a continuous cross groove; in combination with a fabric loop engaging instrumentality affording a number of spaced points. integrally joined transversely by a common lateral connection, the latter'being adapted. to engage in the cross groove of theholder element, and the immediately adjoining portions of the point shanks to engage in the notches.

3. A device for transferring knitted fabricsincluding a holder element having a series of notches intersected by a continuous cross groove; in combination with a fabric loop engaging inst-rumentality affording a number of spaced points integrally joined by a common transverse connectiomthe latter being adapted to engage in the cross groove of the holder element, and the immediately adjoining portions of the point shanks to en gage in the notches, and means to secure the fabric engaging instrumentalities in place.

' 4-. A device for transferring knitted fab rics including a holder element having a se ries of notches intersected by a continuous cross groove; in combination with afabric loop engaging instrumentality affording spaced points integrally oined by a common transverse connection, the latter being adapted to occupy the cross groove of the holder element, the immediately adjoining portions of the point shanks to occupy the notches, and said instrumentalities being secured in place through swedging of the side walls of the notches aforesaid over upon them.

5. A device fortransferring knitted fab rics including a holder element having a series of vertical notches intersected by a continuous horizontal cross groove; in combination with fabric loop engaging instrumentalities each affording a pair of spaced points integrally joined by a transverse connection, said connection being adapted to engage in the horizontal groove of the holder and the contiguous portions of the point shanks in the vertical notches. v

6. A device for transferring knitted fabrics comprising two component members each with projecting instrumentalities having multiple loop-engaging points capable of being brought into registry for transfer offabric loops between them, said points having dull flat ends for intimate abutment over a substantial surface area to prevent release of the fabric loops incidental to transfer as aforesaid. r

7. an annular device for transferring knitted tubular fabrics comprising two component arcuate members hin ed together for swinging movement for registry of attached instrumentalities having multiple loop-engaging points projecting respectively from them and doubling of the fabric loops on one set with those on the otherset, said points having dull fiat ends for intimate abutment over asubstantial surface area to prevent release of the fabric loops incidental to transfer as aforesaid.

, 8. An integrally-formed fabric engaging instrumentality useful in connection with devices for transferring knit fabrics affording a multiplicity of spaced loopingpoints.

7 age projection.

10. A fabric engaging instrumentality usefulin connection with devices for transferring knit webs having the form of parallel ing points each with a dull flat end affording a substantial surface area, for the purpose specified. i

11. An integrally-formed fabric engaging instrumentality useful in connection with devices for transferring knit fabrics affording a multiplicity of spaced looping points with dull flat ends.

12. A fabric engaging.instrumentality use ful in connection with devices for transfer- ;ring knit fabrics having the form of a U thereby to afford loop-engaging points 111 duple. I

13. A fabric engaging instrumentality useful in connection with devices for transferring knit fabrics having the form of a U thereby toafford loop-engaging points in duple, and with the connecting portion of the U extending laterally to provide an anchorage projection.

14. A fabric engaging instrumentality useful in connection with devices for transferring knit fabrics'formed integrally from a length of strip material bent to U-shape to afford loop-engaging points in duple.

15. A fabric engaging instrumentality useful in connection with devices for transferring knit fabrics formedintegrally from a length of strip material bent to *U-shape to In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- Vania, this 28th day of November, 1925.

LOUIS N. D. WILLIAMS.

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